No one expects the Vortex of Chaos. It's ice on the sidewalk three days before Christmas, the driver who knocks the door off your SUV, the surgery that dims your voice, the cancer treatments that leave your brain muddled for months. But like the accretion ring surrounding a black hole, the Vortex of Chaos is also the neon sign that says you're still in business, that you haven't given up, that you're not willing to take it lying down.
Chaos is Life.

Montag, November 24, 2008

Knitting by Firelight, Knitting by Starlight

The shorter days really get to me. I have caught myself not only buying chocolate, but eating it. There has to be a better way to self-medicate in the dark days as we wind down towards the longest night of the year.

These will not replace my gift knitting or The Purse Project. They are just for those times when I need chocolate. They are a chocolate substitute.

I haven't actually started knitting; I will need to take time to get the projects started so I can just knit a row here or there as needed.

My mystery project will go on a road trip, which I hope will help it substantially towards its 48" goal. I am riding up to my parents' for Thanksgiving with Ruth Ann and her family. Ruth Ann's surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2nd. With that coming up and with our mom losing ground mentally, she wanted to get her kids up there while mom still knows who they are and Ruth Ann feels like travelling. We are not having our Thanksgiving dinner until Sunday, and Paul is on call for three days over the holiday, so I am not missing anything.

Waldmaus from Ravelry insists that a straight cable needle held in the hand like an extra finger is better than cabling without a needle. There is a lot of cabling in the mystery project. I'm going to try it. In a project where there are maybe four cable twists every eight rows or so, I really like needle-free cabling. But this is, like, 40 millions cable twists every four short rows. I need help.

I'm taking my mom the gloves I knitted for her. They did not get blogged previously because they just went so fast.

This is the cover pattern from the latest Piecework magazine. It is a super pattern. When it says, "knit 7 repeats of the finger pattern," the finger miraculously fits. I saw the designer, Nancy Bush, at a book signing a week ago and commented at how clever that was. She said she surprised at how well it had worked.